Equality needed for all countries, envoy says

China's top envoy to the United Nations on Thursday stressed that the international community must stay committed to the equality of all countries regardless of their size, safeguard the authority and universal application of international law, and practice true multilateralism.

"The world today is eyewitnessing grave challenges for peace and development and intertwined uncertainties and instabilities. All these are posing enormous pressure on countries, especially small states," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, during the High-level Roundtable on Small States, Multilateralism and International Law.

"In times of crisis, it is more important for us to realize that humanity belongs to a community with a shared future, and we should spare no effort to build our common home."

To address the challenges, Zhang said "we must stay committed to true multilateralism".

"True multilateralism has nothing to do with group politics, small cliques, bloc confrontation or a new Cold War," he said.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected. The rights of all countries to independently choose their social system and development path should be protected and the legitimate security concerns and demands of all parties should be guaranteed, Zhang said.

"We must stay committed to equality of all countries regardless of their size. Despite their differences in size, strength and wealth, all countries are equal members of the international community," he said.

However, hegemony and power politics still exist. "There is still a long way to go for democracy in international relations," he said.

"We must stay committed to the integrity and unity of international law. International rules should be made fairly and equally with joint participation, and they should be applied universally and impartially without exception."

minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com